How to do business effectively while on the move

So, what can you do? Here are my top tips to do business effectively when you're on the move.

1) Plan in advance - how often have you had to rush because you needed petrol and didn't get it before? Or, had to get up early to print out materials that you needed for the day? Yes - me too! But, if you plan in advance and do these things before the day you know you're going to be out, you'll find your life is much smoother.

2) Use Technology - there are so many things out there now to help us organise our lives better, so why not use them? Blackberrys and IPhones are fantastic for managing your emails and Notebooks are great for travelling with - they're so much lighter than laptops and are often free if you sign up for mobile broadband. I got a new Notebook recently for just £20 a month!

3) Use a call minding company - manage any phone calls you receive while you're out and about by using a call answering service. They will answer your calls in your company name and will send any messages to your emails or by text to you. People far appreciate speaking to a human being rather than an answering machine, making you look more professional too. We use Professional Call Minders who are fantastic.

4) Scale down your workload - much as we'd like to get everything done if you're out working, your time will be limited. Recognise this and scale back your workload accordingly - sounds obvious, but we very often don't do this leaving us feeling stressed because we haven't done as much as we would like.

5) Outsource tasks - if outsourcing tasks is an option for you, it is definitely something that's worth doing to help you manage work while you're out of the office. If you can outsource to a company or an individual, you'll have confidence that the work is being done even if you're not there to do it.

6) Set up systems - ultimately if you can set up systems in your business meaning that marketing and work get done while you're not there. This can of course, include outsourcing tasks. A simple example of a system is to use a programme that sends people who visit your website emails to help you build a relationship with them. Start by looking at everything you do in your business and see if you can set up a system to streamline things. You will speed up your tasks and eventually your business will operate efficiently even if you're not there.

While it's hard to manage everything when you're out of the office, setting up system and using the tools that are available to manage things will help you to feel less stressed and make sure things still get done.